1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cigarette with an increased amount of volatile flavor delivery in smoke at the time of the initial puff.
2. Description of the Related Art
A menthol cigarette is generally produced by adding menthol flavor to cut tobacco, and processing the cut tobacco into a cigarette by using a tobacco rolling machine. In such menthol cigarette, it is known that the amount of menthol that is fed to the mouth at every puff gradually increases from the initial puff to the completion of smoking. Namely, the amount of menthol that is fed to the mouth at the initial period of smoking (at the times of the first and second puff) is smaller than that in the later period of smoking. By this fact, a smoker feels insufficient menthol feeling at the initial period of smoking. It is considered that the delivery amount of the menthol in the smoke is increased by simply increasing the amount of menthol with which cut tobacco is impregnated, but the above-mentioned problem of gradual increase cannot be solved by this technique, and if menthol is added by a too much amount, it is likely that the menthol that has been excessively added exudes on the cigarette paper, which consequently contaminates the package of the product. Furthermore, since menthol is volatile, there is a problem under conventional flavor-adding processes that menthol volatilizes during storage and a desired amount of menthol is not released at the time of smoking.
Meanwhile, various techniques relating to cigarettes aiming at controlling the delivery amount of a tobacco-derived component and smoke flavor have been known since before. For example, European Patent Publication No. 468298 discloses a cigarette constitution in which a tobacco rod is constituted by two sections and different types of tobacco fillers are used in the respective sections. U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,380 discloses a constitution in which cut tobacco of good quality is disposed in the distal end portion of a cigarette and inexpensive cut tobacco is disposed in the proximal end portion. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 61-108364 discloses a technique for improving feeling of satisfaction at the initial period of smoking by disposing cut tobacco containing a high content of nicotine in the distal end portion of a tobacco rod.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,730,628 discloses a segment-type cigarette in which the density of cut tobacco at the distal end has been increased so as to suppress the tip dropping of the cut tobacco. Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 62-190070 discloses a design and a method for the production of a cigarette by which a smoke flavor/tar ratio at the initial period of smoking is increased more than that in conventional cigarettes and homogeneous smoke flavor can be provided at the time of smoking, by disposing tobacco having high smoke flavor in the distal end portion of the tobacco rod.
Furthermore, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 01-128777 and Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 06-209756 disclose segmented cigarettes. Furthermore, Jpn. UM Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 03-50892 discloses a cigarette comprising segments respectively containing different flavors.
As mentioned above, various techniques for controlling the smoke flavor of tobacco at the initial period of smoking can be found, but there is no cigarette that can enhance the menthol feeling at the initial period of smoking, prevent exuding of menthol on a cigarette paper during storage and significantly maintain the delivery amount of menthol at the time of smoking even after storage.